The field of the invention relates generally to a polymer blend composition, and more particularly to a polymer blend composition containing an impact modified polypropylene and a low density polyethylene that can be used to manufacture a non-carpeted automotive flooring material.
Automobile manufactures require that non-carpeted flooring material have scratch and mar resistance, low gloss, and grain definition, while being colorable, durable, and able to withstand large temperature changes without failure. In addition, automobile manufactures require that the flooring material has a low modulus (elasticity) for ease of installation into a vehicle.
Known non-carpeted flooring material are manufactured from blends of impact modified polypropylene and high melt strength polypropylene (partially crosslinked). The impact modified polypropylene creates flexibility to facilitate installation into a vehicle and contributes to low gloss, while the high melt strength polypropylene facilitates scratch and mar resistance, and provides adequate strength during a thermoforming process. However, these known flooring materials have a narrow window of temperature range for thermoforming. High crystallinity of the material leads to sharp drop-off in melt strength during the thermoforming process. In addition, these known flooring materials also significantly increase in gloss as forming temperatures are increased which does not meet automobile manufactures requirements.